Which Smartphone Has the Fastest Processor?

by Jacob Andrew

As processors have become smaller, the power of mobile phones has grown. Although many phones share similar features, the speed at which they use those features varies greatly. Beneath the touch-screens lies the core of the smart phone experience. Smartphone processors are traditionally measured in megahertz or gigahertz, but many factors affect their overall speed.

Multicore

It’s not enough to merely have the fastest processor, but for a company to have the most. Dual-, quad-, and even octo-core processors have now found their way into phones, allowing multiple programs to run without affecting the performance of each other. To that end, the HTC One X+ offers users a quad-core processor, with each core offering 1.7 GHz of processing power. Samsung has tentative plans to introduce an eight-core successor to the Galaxy S III in the near future.

Raw Speed

The single fastest processor on the market is the Z240 Atom from Intel. This mobile processor delivers 2.0 GHz speeds and is currently found in the Motorola RAZR i.

Overall Performance

The purpose of processors is to affect the speed of the overall software. To that end, the iPhone 5's A6 processor runs at a lower processor speed, approximately 1.3 GHz across two cores, but consistently scores faster in software benchmarks than its contemporaries. This may be due in part to the iPhone processor's customized design, built specifically for Apple’s iOS software.

About the Author

Jacob Andrew previously worked as an A+ and CCNA-certified technology specialist. After receiving his BA in journalism from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2012, he turned his focus towards writing about travel, politics and current technology.